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APIs · head to head

Convoy vs Memcached

Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

Open source webhooks gateway you self-host, handling both sending and receiving

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
M

Memcached

Databases

Distributed memory object caching system

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Convoy the default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.; Memcached no persistence at all: restart a node and its cache is gone, which every design must assume
  • They diverge on capability: Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Memcached covers In-memory key-value cache.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Convoy and Memcached actually diverge.

Attributes where Convoy and Memcached differ
AttributeConvoyMemcached
Pricing modelPer month, flat rate regardless of volumeOpen source, no licence fee; managed cloud billed separately
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Self-hosted
CategoryAPIsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Convoy

  • Inbound and outbound
  • Broker-driven ingestion
  • Payload transformation
  • Portal links
  • Circuit breaking
  • Retry policies
  • OpenTelemetry export
  • Role-based access control

Only in Memcached

  • In-memory key-value cache
  • Multithreaded
  • Client-side sharding
  • Predictable memory use

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Convoy

  • A fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party SaaS for compliance reasonsnot Memcached
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot Memcached
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot Memcached
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot Memcached

Memcached

  • Caching expensive database query results to cut loadnot Convoy
  • Session storage where losing sessions on restart is acceptablenot Convoy
  • Fronting an API whose responses are costly and change slowlynot Convoy

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Convoy

  • The default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • Frain Technologies is a small startup, and putting customer-facing delivery infrastructure on it means accepting real vendor continuity risk on a component that is hard to swap out quickly.
  • The premium tier at a flat 999 US dollars a month is poor value below substantial volume, while the community edition omits the portal, transformations and RBAC that most production deployments end up wanting.
  • The hosted cloud trial is capped at one project and 100 events a day, which is too small to properly evaluate the service before committing.
  • Documentation and the third-party ecosystem are thinner than the established webhook services, so unusual configurations often mean reading the Go source.

Memcached

  • No persistence at all: restart a node and its cache is gone, which every design must assume
  • No replication or failover, so losing a node loses that share of the cache
  • Only simple key-value, with none of the lists, sorted sets or streams Redis offers
  • Values are capped at 1MB by default, which surprises teams caching large documents

Pricing, plan by plan

Convoy

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Self-hosted open source gateway
    • Inbound and outbound webhooks
    • Automatic retries and message broker support
  • Premium$999/month
    • Flat rate irrespective of message volume
    • Portal links and payload transformation
    • RBAC, circuit breaking and white labelling
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • SAML SSO
    • Dedicated support with SLA
    • On-premises deployment assistance
  • Cloud$undefined/month
    • Hosted by Convoy
    • 14 day trial limited to one project and 100 events a day
    • Usage-based tiers above the trial

Memcached

Free
  • MemcachedFree
    • Full functionality
    • Self-hosted
    • No usage limits

Which should you pick?

Choose Convoy if

  • You need inbound and outbound.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want broker-driven ingestion.
Convoy review

Choose Memcached if

  • You need in-memory key-value cache.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Self-hosted.
  • You also want multithreaded.
Memcached review

Questions people ask

Is Convoy or Memcached better?
Neither clearly leads. Convoy starts at Free and Memcached at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Convoy or Memcached?
Convoy starts at Free and Memcached at Free.
Does Convoy or Memcached run on more platforms?
Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Memcached runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Self-hosted.
Can I use Convoy for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Convoy best used for?
Convoy is most often used for a fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party saas for compliance reasons, a high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licence, a team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gateway, an engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing kafka or sqs topic. Of those, a fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party saas for compliance reasons and a high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licence are not what Memcached is typically brought in for.
What can Convoy do that Memcached cannot?
Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links. Memcached covers In-memory key-value cache, Multithreaded, Client-side sharding, Predictable memory use.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Convoy: Is Convoy really open source?

Yes, the community edition is open source and self-hostable, covering both inbound and outbound webhooks with retries.

Memcached: Is Memcached free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

A flat 999 US dollars a month, self-hosted, regardless of message volume.

Memcached: Memcached or Redis?

Memcached is a pure cache: simpler, multithreaded and very predictable. Redis adds persistence, replication and rich data structures, which is why it is the default choice unless you specifically want a cache and nothing more.

Convoy: Does it receive webhooks as well as send them?

Yes, inbound ingestion with verification and deduplication is a first-class feature, unlike most webhook services.

Memcached: Does Memcached persist data?

No. Everything is in memory and lost on restart, by design.

Convoy: Do I have to self-host?

No, there is a hosted cloud, but the trial is capped at 100 events a day and self-hosting is the primary model.

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